Resentment and Rivalry
by AgentOfAngst
Summary: Della didn't like Gyro before she was stranded on the moon, and she definitely doesn't like him now.


**Uh, go follow Frank Angones on Tumblr. It's great for fanfic canon.**

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Della resented him. He was younger than her but arrogant like he was better. Like he was smarter! Well, he was smarter, and they both knew it, but the nerve of this man to bring it up time and time again. How dare he belittle her every time he breathed. She could not occupy the same room as his ego.

"Put him at the bottom of the sea," Della suggested when Scrooge was wondering where he should build a lab for that tiny smug nerd.

"An underwater lab! Of course! I could expand the money bin downward and then the innovation would be in house. Brilliant idea, Della!" Della sulked and scoffed towards herself. It wasn't a brilliant idea, it was a suggested and ultimately ignored threat. Which she was not pleased with.

"Happy to help," she said through gritted teeth. Now he was getting a cool underwater lab, now he was getting all of her Uncle's doting and patting and Scrooge was pretty stingy with his doting. But this egomaniac deserved all the praise because his mind would make Scrooge more money. Her grit had been making Scrooge money since she and Donald had been like 5! Gyro wasn't that cool. He didn't deserve an awesome underwater laboratory that had been her idea. Gyro certainly didn't deserve to be a part of the family. He was just a bratty little know-it-all who threw his intelligence in her face every opportunity he got. Sure, he had a talent. But that didn't mean that Della wasn't bitter about it. She was smart too! But he was a _prodigy_! So he got all the attention and all the bragging rights.

"What do you think about that science dweeb that Scrooge thinks is so cool and great?"

"It's clear what you think about him," Donald said, fiddling with his guitar.

"And how do you feel about him?"

"If I say I hate him, will you let me practice in peace?"

"You're never going to make it as a musician Don, you're too edgy."

"I've just decided that I don't hate him. Gyro's great."

"You're just decided that I don't hate him." She scowled.

"You're just saying that to make me mad."

"Is it working?"

"A little... What do you actually think?"

"I don't know. I don't care about him. You shouldn't be so jealous-"

"I'm not jealous!"

"Sure you're not."

"I don't know why I thought talking to you would help."

"Beats me."

"Practice your stupid guitar for all I care."

"Mm-hm. See you later." They weren't actually fighting. Della couldn't harbor resentment against her brother the way she could against that little science freak. She'd bicker with Donald but they balanced each other out. Donald didn't make her feel bad about herself, not on purpose at least. Gyro treated her like a loser in a game she didn't even know that she was playing. He acted so, so, so entitled.

"I'll just prove I'm smarter than him," Della muttered, pacing the halls of the money bin, waiting for Scrooge to be done with a meeting so that they could go off on the next adventure.

"You're not smarter than me. But if it helps you sleep at night, I'm working on a project that might interest you. I don't expect you'll be much help, but you might learn something."

"I will never, ever help you."

"Suit yourself, I'll never ask you again." He kept his word and didn't give her a chance to learn about the Spear of Selene when he made it. It would've been interesting to her, though. She might've learned something.

* * *

Della resented him.

That hadn't changed in the 11 years she was on the moon. In fact, she probably hated him more. She hated him for everything that had happened to her on the moon. She hated him for Oxy-Chew, she hated him for what he said in the owner's manual about it being so easy that even Della could do it. She resented that he was smarter than her and that he thought that made him better than her. He wasn't better than her!

What she resented most of all, though, was that he was still around. It had been 11 years! It had been 11 years and her Uncle didn't find him absolutely deplorable yet. He was so annoying and condescending and weird! Yet he could just barge in whenever he wanted with a stupid invention or a clone ray- as if the world needed more of him.

She wanted to hate his superhero as much as she hated him. But Gizmoduck wasn't that bad. It was clear that was the case because Gyro didn't want anything to do with his superhero. And anything that was mostly untouched by Gyro had the chance of being okay. That's why most of the moon had been terrible because it was polluted with his presence, his licorice-flavored gum and how smug he was about it all.

And then they ran into each other for the first time since the moon thing.

"Oh. You're back."

"That's it? You made the rocket that crashed and left me stranded in space and all you're going to say is you're back?"

"I barely noticed that you were gone. Your return hardly seems relevant, at least I'm acknowledging it. I didn't cause the crash of my rocket, but you seem to be back mostly in one piece, so that's probably good. I would've designed that prosthetic differently but that's what's to be expected from someone like you."

"Someone like me?" She asked angrily.

"Someone of your skillset."

"Why are you here?!" She screamed.

"I work here. Why are you here?"

"Because I'm family! I belong here-" She was cut off by hearing voices approaching. If it was her boys, she didn't want to give them this impression. In a way, Donald had been right. She shouldn't care so much. She shouldn't be this jealous. Maybe she could take a step back. Maybe she could take a deep breath. Maybe she wouldn't beat the crap out of this annoying chicken. She just had to get away from him. She took a few steps away and didn't look back. He didn't say anything because he didn't care about her.

There wasn't a big rivalry like she had imagined. He wasn't plotting ways to mock her. He just thought he was better than everyone. Why had she cared so much if he was just this way to everyone? Why had she cared? She didn't owe Gyro an apology, but she might owe her brother one. She just wished she'd gotten to see him before she got to see Gyro.

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**Just to be clear, I really like Gyro! I think he's great. However, I imagine this is how Della might feel about him. That's why I painted him so negatively. Because her view was distorting our view. I hope you enjoyed!**


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